Primary branch placement - bonsai vs. niwaki

[ijsnyder]

I am interested in both bonsai and niwaki and am trying to use the winter months to deepen my understanding of how one can scale the aesthetic of a mature tree in nature.
One thing that confuses me is how niwaki tend to ignore bonsai’s rule of alternating primary branches (i.e. left-right-back). I see a lot of wagon wheels. I understand that in bonsai, the potential for inverse taper is pretty severe. But why does niwaki seem to go for this kind of “layer cake” look? It seems like it would be more natural and more aesthetically pleasing if niwaki also used alternating branching, and pinched the leading candle each year in order to shorten the internodes (lest the tree just look like an inflated bonsai).
Curious for an open discussion here!

 

[rockm]

I'm no niwaki expert, but seems to me there is quite a lot of latitude in what is done with those kinds of trees, from "poodling" them (karikomi, or shearing), to more natural branch placement. I have a feeling that at that scale it is more about overall silhouette than tiny details.

 

[Kodama]

Are these from the Japanese garden at the Chicago Botanical Gardens? They look familiar.

 

[ijsnyder]

Are these from the Japanese garden at the Chicago Botanical Gardens? They look familiar.

Great eye! The first is from St. Paul (Como Conservatory) and the second two are from Chicago Botanic.

 

[Cruiser]

The larger a tree is, the less noticeable swelling from bar branches and whorled growth will be. Niwaki trees seem to be larger than typical bonsais so maybe that’s why?
Whorled (wagon-wheel) branch growth is standard in most conifers. It is an insurance policy for the tree to grow many branches at a node. If some break or are shaded out, there are more. It is the natural look, at least in a trees youth and middle age.
Over time as some branches die back and others over perform, the tree may end up appearing to have alternate branching. Not always.